Our Mission:

The Secondary Section enhances the professional lives of secondary English language arts educators and the quality of education of their students by providing multiple forums for significant dialogue on historical, current, and emerging topics of interest to secondary English language arts educators.

Ike Thompson is the recipient of the Georgia Council of Teachers of English Teacher of Excellence award in 2011. Ike received the award due to his use of literature circles in the classroom and his personal teaching strategies. Mr. Thompson has a B.A. in English from Western Michigan University and an M.A. from Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA.

"...I have come to realize good teachers are sponges. Recognize your need for growth and grab anything and everything you can from those around you. I tweak nearly everything I take from anybody else to fit my style, but, I must admit, I rarely come up with an innovative lesson all on my own. If you can’t or are unwilling to collaborate and sponge up what you can, there will be little opportunity for growth and betterment of yourself as an English teacher."

Annual Convention Highlights

Find out more about the Secondary Level featured speakers and events during the NCTE Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Hotel and Convention Center.

Other news from the Secondary Section:

The May 2012 issue of English Journal features two pieces from the Secondary Section. Be sure to take a moment to read Kay Haas's (Secondary Section Steering Committee Chair) article discussion of the importance of mentoring, Mentoring New Teachers by Empowering the “Peeps”.

Clips from the Web:

This is online program is designed to assess your reading speed and comprehension level. It contains quizzes that will assist the user in determining his or her reading speed. In addition it works as a bookmark applet, meaning it will install a link in your browser's book mark bar. If you click on that link when viewing a web page, words that are being read are highlighted, while words that have already been read fade. There are a few glitches here, but it is a free web application.

Resources for teachers:

NCTE Presentations and Events

To really teach a text well, and to develop students' habits for tackling texts, teachers have to understand what factors contribute to text complexity. As noted in the Common Core State Standards, this includes quantitative measures, qualitative measures, and an analysis of the match between the text and the tasks students will complete. This LIVE Web seminar is part of a series focused on skills and teaching practices that are essential to successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards. School leaders, coaches, and teachers will learn strategies for gearing up for the demands of the CCSS.

NCTE Publications

English Journal is NCTE's award-winning journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. It presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language, and includes information on how teachers are putting the latest technologies to work in their classrooms.

Other Resources

Back to School 2012. Get ready for the 2012-2013 school year, by visiting our resources, lesson plans, and activities to support you now and throught the school year.

Trying to find non-fiction to fit the Common Core requirement for extended study? Longreads.com features three long-form stories from sources on the web. The search is international, and yields non-fiction work that is longer than the traditional newspaper article, but significantly more manageable than an entire book. These are great length for high school study; however, not all are appropriate for high school students. Occasionally longreads does feature a fiction piece.